My front end has degraded to the point that when I drive fowards my front wheels go out a little bit. It's hard to explain, but look below and I think you'l get the idea. Both front wheels are pointing outwords noticeably. front of car \ / <- front wheels If I back up and hit the brakes hard, the wheels pull back into almost perfect alignment. The trailing arm seems to be 95% of whats causing this. Without tearing my whole front end apart, can I fix this by replaceing the trailing arm and tie rod ends, or is there anything else besides those that I need to replace also? I just need to get it to hold alignment and be able to drive over 40 again. I figgure after I replace those worn parts, I will take it up to Pep Boys who just aligned my dad's Mustang and have them do a full alignment on it and have them check out the rest of the front end. They did an awesome job on the Mustang. I am actually purposely running junk tires on the front right now so as not to ruin my good ones. I was going to try to wait till laborday weekend to mess with it, but I don't think it's going to go that much longer. Just in the past couple of days the car has started driving noiceably worse and the alignment is going to hell. I have no choice but to keep driving the car every day. I'm takeing the side roads to school and trying not to get it above 35 of 40.
jamie..jamie...jamie, jack the car up and put it on "jackstands", put a "lawnmower rim" in front and behind the rear tires. get someone to shake the front tire up and down and back and forth while you look and see what is loose. if it something that has a bolt coming out of you need to know this before you drive the car "anywhere". as far as the front end alignment..you need to get as much repaired or replaced before you take it in. if not more than likely they will charge you to do it again if you don't let them fix anything they find to be wrong...and trust me "they" will find something wrong...frank...
Safe bet, one that I haven't been able to afford to do in the past... if you have a front end part with excessive slack, replace it and any part with a ball and socket directly connected to it. Lots of front end parts won't show slack unless they're under strain and heat at the same time. Bottom line, if I had the money (and I might be retired by the time I finish this monster) I would replace every front end part under the car, aside from the center link and pitman arm. Neither have moving parts on a power steering car.
Nothing seems to be loose and there actually isn't alot of play in the wheel, just the wheels themselves are out of alignment so bad. Frank, when I do that the only thing that appears to be causing it is the trailing arm thing. Looks like it's pretty much falling apart. By the looks of it, it's original. I started haveing these problems after my passenger front wheel hit (more like fell in) a big pot hole and it's been getting progressively worse since then. Money is tight, I gotta at least get this thing back half decent with the least amount of money as possible. It's gonna be Christmas break, or worse yet, summer before I will have the time/money to do a full rebuild. I just have to get by for now...
If it straightens out when you back up and hit the brakes, there has to be alot of play in the tie rod ends, and/or if it's power steering, the control valve can also contribute. The tie rod ends are how toe in/out is adjusted, and if they're worn, will add that kind of slop. The control valve will make the steering feel sloppy though. Also, Mavericks don't have trailing arms, I can't figure out what you're referring to.
By trailing arm, I'm talking about that arm that thing that bolts to the passenger frame rail and has the steering linkage connected to it. I have no idea what it's really called, but I was told by 5 people that it is called a trailing arm. Car does not have power steering (thank god). So it looks like I'm going to start out by replaceing that arm/thing/doodad/what ever the heck it is and the tie rod ends and see if that helps. I'm sure Pep Boys will find other things wrong in the front end, thats half the reason I'm takeing it to them. That way I at least have an idea of what else will need to be replaced down the road. If you can't tell, the front end is not exactly my strong area of working on these cars. Wish I could bolt a rack and pinion set up on with tie rod ends like my dad's 95 Mustang and be done with it.
I'm with you on the rack and pinion thing.. I would love to bolt one in, but no such animal exists just yet. I'm not ready to start hacking and welding... The thingie you are talking about is the idler arm. Can also add alot of slop, but I don't think it would contribute to the toe-out condition you originally posted about. But then, I'm no expert either, could very well be wrong.
Sounds like your Camber setting is off. If nothing is loose it might just need aligned. Weak Springs, new springs, engine swap, etc can affect this. Thats why your seeing it change when you brake and shift the weight around. You could always go to an alignment shop and ask them what its going to cost to get an alignment and ask them to check it out and make sure nothing additional needs work. Make sure before they put it on the racks there is not a charge for checking it out. Most will not charge for looking at it. Becareful to try to go to a good shop for 2 reasons. One they don't try to take you for a ride and want to replace everything and 2 that they really know how to do your older car. Most of the young techs today are trained for Front Wheel drive. Ask questions. I am a pain if I have to take the car anywhere for work, I usually stand at the garage door behind the car and let them know I am keeping an eye on things. Make sure they actually charge you for the old front end alignment. A few years back a shop tried to charge me a outrageous price, come to find out it was their 4 wheel alignment price-- as some of the newer cars can have all four wheels adjusted. Good luck
Yup ... I had an "old guy" do the alignment on my Grabber when I replaced the front end .. He also replaced the strut rod bushings for me ... thought he was gonna have a heart attack trying to get the nuts off the strut rods ... he earned his money that day! Took him quite a while to get the alignment right but car drives straight as an arrow. I think the entire price with the bushing replacement was around $70 ....
74Mav, if I have someone hold one wheel still and I move the other one back and forth, there is about a quarter inch of play, so definately a little more is wrong then just being out of adjustment. I'm going to go ahead and replace the above mentioned parts and then see where I'm at. I appreciate all the input.
If You Hit A Large Pot Hole It Might Have Bent The Tierod On That Side Thus Nothing Loose Jack Up With Stands Under It ,straighten Wheel To Center And Look At The Tires And See If They Look Straight Toe-in Is Why The Wheels Are Wider In The Ft Than The Rear If I'm Looking At Your Drawing Correctly
Nothing is bent, there is no possible way to get both wheels to point perfectly straight without backing up and stomping the brakes.
The Lower Or Upper Control Arm Bushings May Be Bad Enough To Allow The Spindle To Move ,measure From The Ft Fender Well To Each Ft Wheel And See If They Are Close
Jamie; get with Frank. Like I said, he has an alignment guy that knows these cars, and can tell you what is going on with it. He gave me a good rundown about my car, and it drives better than it ever has. He is in Macon, but a short ride to get it fixed. Good luck!
